Cracks in the Skin
by OmnipresentNuance
Summary: Lincoln is allowed to go to the Ace Savvy convention once he's cleared of blame for the toilet clogging incident. When he comes back home in a bad mood and something is said about him being made fun of, his sisters worry their teasing of him earlier played a role, especially after Lucy brought it up earlier. But could they really be the cause of his mood or is it something else?


**How's it going? Here's another work of mine, this one kind of a little while in the making.**

**For those who are curious, I've originally had this story finished last December, but I'm only now putting it out there. There are a handful of reasons for this, but mainly so I can retool it a good amount and pare it down within my self-imposed limit of 10,000 words per one-shot or chapter, not including the author's notes. The reason put such a limit is that I think it's a nice round number and I don't want them to be too overly long, simple as that.**

**Now, with that little bit of backstory out there, let's address a few other things. As you've likely gathered from the summary, this one's based on the events of "Sleuth or Consequences", taking place immediately after, with the only change being I take out that portion where Lucy gave Lincoln a comic of her own she made as a means of thanking him. Yes, the toilet-clogging incident that has been mentioned, talked over, brought up, debated and referenced quite a few times before is a key part of this story. And yes, the teasing by the sisters is the absolute focus of everything and I know that's a thorny subject, too.**

**But in any event, I'll end the monologue right here and let you get to the reading.**

_**The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.**_

* * *

One afternoon at the Loud house, Lincoln was in his room reading some comics of his. Normally, this sounds like any other day for him, but after what happened in the time that preceded, escapism through the written and drawn form was very much needed.

During that time, Lincoln had been accused of clogging the toilet, something that he has been guilty of committing before, but in this case he insisted that he wasn't the offending party this time around and vowed to track down the real culprit. With Lucy joining along with, they interrogated each of their sisters, but no one fessed up to the deed. However, Lincoln ultimately discovered that Lucy was the perpetrator due to attempting to flush down a girly book entitled "Princess Pony" down the toilet in a moment of haste when she heard the bathroom door being knocked on. After an initial denial, she was fully prepared to confess, even with some apprehension on her part over possibly being teased over reading such a book that clashed with her previously established affinity for all things dark, gloomy and macabre.

But just as she was going to confess, Lincoln decided to step in and take the blame instead, knowing he could withstand the verbal barbs that their sisters would dish out that Lucy may have been unprepared for due to the thick skin he prided himself on having. As a consequence of taking the heat, Lincoln was grounded and could not attend the Ace Savvy convention he'd been planning on going to before the whole toilet-clogging brouhaha.

As he read his comic, Lincoln was starting to have a hard time in concentrating as he read from panel to panel. This was due to some rumination about some teasing his sisters engaged in at his expense all day long. Though he can take it, there are also times such as with today that it can also get a little grating, even distressing on a rare occasion. From the casual put downs of his homemade Ace Savvy costume, to broader barbs over his affinity for comics overall, to that one line from Lori about making fun of him for life over "Princess Pony" and the part when the sisters all but celebrated him being grounded, sometimes such ribbing can penetrate beneath the skin and hit deep within him. But Lincoln in most any case would internalize those feelings over a modicum of fear that admitting to such would only crank up the mocking to the nth degree.

However, fortunes would soon change in Lincoln's favor. While he stepped out of his room, he was invited downstairs by his parents to have a discussion, though over what exactly the contents entailed weren't made immediately clear. Adding to the intrigue was when Lucy was also present for the talk, too.

"Son, looks like there was a misunderstanding this whole time." Lynn Sr. said.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Lincoln asked.

"Lucy told us everything that actually happened, Lincoln." Rita explained, "Though we do find it admirable that you stood up for her at first."

"Whoa, you mean…" Lincoln attempted saying, then he looked over to Lucy. "You actually confessed to them, Lucy?"

"Sigh. Yes, I did." Lucy said, "While I do appreciate you taking the blame at first, I've since been feeling really guilty about you getting punished for something you weren't responsible for. Plus, I can't always have other people fighting my battles for me and sooner or later, I need to learn to stand up for myself, maybe even get a thicker skin like a certain brother of mine..."

It was a genuine shock for Lincoln to hear that. Still, to know that Lucy did summon the courage to come clean and particularly how she implied that she's modeling herself by his own example made him feel quite heartened.

"Wow...I've got to say, Lucy, I'm impressed and really proud of you." Lincoln expressed very simply and with a smile.

He shifted a little closer to his younger sister and gave her a quick hug, one that she gave back.

"Now, with that being said, Lucy, we will have to dole out some kind of consequences for you since we now know that you're the responsible party, but we'll discuss those later, okay?" Rita said.

Lucy nodded gently, "I understand, Mom."

"That's a good girl." Lynn Sr. said, giving his goth daughter a pat on her back before turning his attention back to Lincoln, "And as for you, Lincoln, consider your grounding rescinded and if you want, you can go that convention of yours."

Lincoln's eyes lit up, "Really?! I can?"

Quick nods from both his parents was all the additional encouragement that Lincoln needed. Still clad in his costume from earlier, he bounded up the stairs to grab one other thing in his room, that being a bag containing his regular clothes just in case, then he struck a triumphant pose and raced down the stairs and out the door.

Perhaps curious as to what was with all the commotion that occurred just now, all the rest of the sisters emerged from their bedrooms and headed downstairs.

"Oh, hey there, girls." Rita greeted them.

"Uh, what was all that noise?" Lynn Jr. wondered.

"Yes, that was a curious amount of sudden cacophony that reverberated through the upstairs hall momentarily." Lisa added, "I have my suspicious that our only brotherly being may have been the initiatory force of such."

"That you are right, Lisa." Lynn Sr. said, "You were hearing Lincoln excitedly leaving the house after we allowed him to go to that convention again."

Needless to say, hearing that didn't sit well at all with most of the sisters.

"What?! Why?" Lana asked angrily.

"Are you for real, Pops? After how he clogged the toilet, you just let him go anyway? That's bogus!" Luna said quite peeved.

"Yeah, there's literally no way you'd ever let us get away with anything close to something like that!" Lori added equally put off.

"Well, girls, maybe we let Lincoln go because he may have not been responsible after all." Lynn Sr. pointed out.

"Ha, good one, Dad! You were the one who _flushed_ his hopes _down the drain_!" Luan joked and laughed, "Get it? But seriously, this is a joke, right?"

Lynn Sr. shook his head, "No, sweetie, this isn't a joke. Lincoln really is cleared of all plumbing-related charges."

"Hmm...as unlikely a prospect as that may be, given prior incidents to the contrary, humor us and posit your alternate theories, Mother and Father." Lisa inquired.

"We could do that, Lisa..." Rita said, a sly grin coming across her face.

"Or we could let someone else do the talking instead." Lynn Sr. suggested.

"Huh? Who are you talking about, Dad?" Leni asked confusedly.

"Well..." Lynn Sr. started off saying as he looked around the living room, "She was just here a moment ago..."

"I'm over here."

That characteristically monotone and gloomy voice belonging to Lucy caused a startle for her sisters as they realized she was standing behind them, and even her parents were put into a bit of a fright despite her being on the other side of the room.

"Lucy, how did get over there?" Rita said bewildered.

"Yeah, we're clear over here and even that got to me!" Lynn Sr. added while laughing nervously.

"Sigh, that's not important right now..." Lucy said.

After a collective moment of regrouping, the sisters were curious as to what was up.

"So, hang on, what's going on here, Lucy?" Luan asked.

"Lincoln's been left off the hook, because..." Lucy began saying, taking a brief moment to work up some extra willpower before concluding, "You're looking at the real culprit of everything."

Her sisters gasped in shock at that revelation.

"Wait, _you_ clogged the toilet?" Lynn Jr. said in surprise.

Lucy nodded after a second of hesitation.

"And are you the "Princess Pony" reader, too?" Lola added.

"Sigh...yes I am." Lucy answered with some shame.

"Whoa...this is unexpected, dudes." Luna said, sharing a look with her sisters.

"I guess that's one way of putting it." Lori agreed, followed by returning her attention to Lucy, "How come you didn't tell us sooner, Luce?"

"Well, I was going to, but Lincoln stepped in at the last moment and chose to take the blame for everything in my place." Lucy explained.

"Wait, why would he do that?" Lynn Jr. wondered.

"After I revealed to him that I was responsible, I also told him that I was worried about how you guys would take everything, like if you were gonna tease me, especially about me reading that book and all." Lucy answered.

She took another moment while her sisters took in her explanation before she resumed speaking.

"On a related note, I also have to admit that we've may have been too hard on Lincoln today, which I know is saying something since I took part in the teasing at first, too. I have to wonder, what exactly are we gaining when we make fun of his love of comics in the first place? I mean, I'm not saying we should never engage in teasing ever again, but maybe we shouldn't be so eager in making fun of the things that he or anyone else loves. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say, so if you don't mind, I'm going to leave you all be. Sigh."

As she finished up saying her piece, Lucy headed upstairs and went straight to her room. Meanwhile, the remainder of the sisters stood in silence while they processed Lucy's concerns about the day's teasing of Lincoln. It was a lot for them to take in and mull over.

* * *

About a half an hour later, the sisters except for Lucy were sitting together watching TV. Then rather suddenly, the front door opened up and Lincoln stepped inside hauling the seemingly empty bag he brought with him earlier, garnering the immediate attention of everyone.

"Yo, bro!" Luna greeted, "You're home early."

Lincoln did not respond.

"So did you have fun at the convention?" Lana asked.

Again, he didn't respond.

"Uh, hello? Earth to Lincoln!" Lola shouted, "We're talking to you!"

"Yeah, but I'm not to you..." Lincoln grumbled contemptuously after a couple seconds of silence and as he began going up the stairs.

"Whoa, what's with this attitude?" Lynn wondered, "We just wanted to know if you had fun is all. Didn't realize that was high crime with you right now."

"First, I'm amazed you even knew I was gone and secondly, why do you guys even care at all?" Lincoln asked when he paused midway up the stairs before sighing heavily, "Oh, never mind, I'm not in the mood at this time."

He resumed going up the stairs and the door to his bedroom could be heard slamming shut. With that occurring, the sisters were starting to get real worried about the mood Lincoln had found himself in.

"Sisters, I could not have been the only one who noticed that our sole brother was sans his homemade heroic garb." Lisa observed.

"Yeah, and he didn't have his costume on, too." Leni said.

"That's what I just said, Leni, I..." Lisa began going into one of her lectures, but stopped and sighed, "Never mind, I suppose parsing words isn't what's most important right now."

Before anything could be said between them, the front door opened up again with Lynn Sr. now stepping in.

"Huh, well that was odd." He said while scratching his temple.

"What's odd, Dad?" Lynn Jr. asked.

"I was just taking out the trash when I bumped into Lincoln coming on home." Lynn Sr. explained, "I asked him how his day at the convention went before noting how early he was coming back. He didn't say anything except that he wasn't in the mood to talk and that he had been made fun of enough for one day. Not only that, I even found his costume in one of the trash cans as well. I hope he's doing okay."

As their father went about with his business, the feelings of worry within the sisters were only getting more amplified.

"Uh, guys, you don't think what we said earlier to Lincoln might be why he's in such a bad mood?" Leni wondered concernedly.

"I don't know, could it? I mean, would he find issue with that? He does claim to have a thick skin, but still..." Luan said sounding unsure.

"Well, I'd hate to think that'd literally be the case, but we can't jump to conclusions right away like we did with what happened with the toilet earlier in the day." Lori pointed out, "Maybe something bad happened at the convention, you never know."

"Yeah, but what can we do to find out what's going on with the little dude, though?" Luna asked, "Like he said, he doesn't sound in the mood for talkin'."

For a moment, nobody seemed to have an idea as to how they can reach out to their brother if he wasn't in the mood for discourse for the time being. But then, an idea came to mind.

"Wait, I know, we can try asking him about it during our sibling meeting later on tonight." Lori said following a snap of her fingers, "We do have other things to discuss during then and once those are out of the way, we'll try talking over everything with Lincoln at that point."

With some agreeable chatter, that plan was settled upon.

Later on during dinnertime, Lincoln remained very quiet and mum over why he was in his mood, even after when asked by his parents. It only caused him to get irritated and leave the table earlier than anticipated. Both Lynn Sr. and Rita too had now gotten very worried about him, but were given reassurances from the girls that they'll talk it over with him, and if need be, fix up some things should it be discovered their teasing of him played any role.

* * *

In Lori and Leni's room, the standard venue where sibling meetings are typically held, the sisters had all converged within and were awaiting the final component for such a symposium.

"All right, we're all accounted for, but obviously we're missing someone." Lori noted, "I'll go get Lincoln and then we'll get things going."

With that being said, the eldest of the Loud siblings briefly stepped out of the room so she could retrieve their sole brother. She went over to his bedroom door and knocked on it.

"Hey, Lincoln?" She inquired.

"What?" Came the lackadaisical response from Lincoln.

"Can I come in for a second?"

"Why?"

"Come on, it won't take too long."

Lori could hear an annoyed groan from the other side of the door, but a couple of seconds later, he acquiesced.

"Fine."

She opened the door and peered inside to see her brother scrolling around on his laptop. Even with her entrance, he didn't turn to face her.

"So, Lincoln, I wanted to tell you that we're about to have a sibling meeting and we need you to join in." Lori said.

"Well, this is news to me." Lincoln flatly stated, still keeping his attention on the laptop screen.

"Yeah, maybe I should have literally mentioned it a little earlier." Lori said with a sheepish chuckle.

"You think?" Lincoln questioned after a scoff.

"Yes, I know." Lori conceded, "But in any event, we need you to come along, otherwise we can't get things started."

Lincoln grumbled mildly and then finally turned his attention to Lori, "Don't think I want to come along."

"But it wouldn't be a sibling meeting if all the siblings aren't present, would it?"

"Hey, it's not like it would be the first time a meeting occurred without my knowledge." Lincoln retorted, "I remember when you all conspired behind my back after I had the temerity to suggest we should swap chores here and there."

Lori sighed and folded her arms, "Do I have to remind you that was only after you went on strike and trash started piling up everywhere? But that's not important right now. We really need you to join us. I think you'll see that it will be worth it."

Lincoln gave it a moment of thought, and after sighing reluctantly, he silently closed his laptop and followed his oldest sister to her and Leni's room.

Upon his arrival, all his sisters gave him various scattered friendly greetings. He tried giving them a forced, weak smile in response, "tried" being the operative word in this instance.

The meeting was finally underway and for the most part, Lincoln paid no heed to its contents. What little he did pay attention to was standard fare about supply rationing, dispute resolution and future plans for what to do together. He was failing to understand what exactly made this meeting worth coming to in the first place like Lori insisted earlier and if he truly had a choice in the matter, he'd been long gone by now.

The only thing that really caught his attention was the sound of Lori banging one of her heeled shoes a la a gavel on the podium.

"All right, does anyone else have any further business worth bringing up?" She asked, surveying the room, "Anyone? No?"

Lincoln perked up somewhat, "Oh, is the meeting over now? In that case, I'm outta here."

He stood up and was about to head out through the door, only to find Lynn blocking his way.

"Oh, come on, Lynn..." Lincoln said in an annoyed tone.

"Lynn, you don't need to do that..." Lori admonished her athletic sister.

"Thank you, Lori. Now if you excuse me..." Lincoln was saying before he tried moving past Lynn and out the door.

"But we're also not done here yet, Lincoln, because we have something very important to discuss with you." Lori told him, finishing her earlier sentence.

Lincoln turned back over to his oldest sister, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You'll see in a second. Just come back over and have a seat." Lori said.

Lincoln wasn't really keen on sticking around for much longer and still wanted to leave, but when he looked back over to Lynn, she was now smiling at him and was going to insist he consider otherwise.

"Come on, we need to do this, little bro." She said sincerely.

Seemingly having no other choice, and perhaps because of the assuring tone coming from Lynn, Lincoln gave in and sat back down on the floor between Lori and Leni's beds.

"So, what is it? What's so important that you need to talk about with me?" Lincoln asked.

"It's a couple of things, really..." Lori answered.

The eldest sibling would then take a seat on the floor right across from her brother.

"First off, I think I can speak for the rest of the girls that we all owe you a massive apology for the whole toilet-clogging incident from earlier today, since we all now know that you weren't responsible."

"Wait, you know that?" Lincoln wondered surprisingly, "I'm guessing Lucy must have told you?"

"I did." Lucy spoke up, getting the attention of her brother, "After telling Mom and Dad, it seemed pretty obvious that I had to tell our sisters that it was me who did everything, too. All part of getting that thicker skin I promised I'd would just like you."

"Wait, we didn't know about that part, Lucy." Lynn said surprised, "You wanted to get thicker skin like Lincoln?"

Lucy nodded, "It's true. After how he stood up for me at first, not only did I confess to make things right, but to also prove that I can stand up for myself and be willing to take any possible teasing from you guys. I'm proud to call him my inspiration on that."

Everyone couldn't help but be touched by Lucy's statement, "Aw..."

Similarly, Lincoln was also heartened by his sister's words just like before.

"That's really nice to know, Lucy. I know you told me that earlier with Mom and Dad, but still, hearing that make me glad to know that I'm helping in some way to better your confidence." He said, in full proud big brother mode.

To further show her appreciation, Lucy came on over to where Lincoln was and gave him a brief, but nonetheless grateful hug, one that he welcomed warmly and elicited another "aw…" from their sisters. Afterwards, she pulled away and returned to her seat.

"Man, I think we all feel like real dummies now for earlier..." Lana lamented while rubbing her arm.

"That's literally feels like the case." Lori added before turning back to Lincoln, "So anyway, we're really sorry for what happened, Lincoln."

"And that's the truth, bro. Look, in fairness, you have jammed the throne more than a few times in the past, but that gave us no right to jump down your throat and accuse you right away when it happened today. Next time something like that happens again, we'll try to actually find evidence before asserting guilt." Luna said with a smile, reaching out and patting Lincoln's shoulder.

With that, everyone else issued their own apologies and reassurances to Lincoln, garnering a decent little smile on his face.

"Oh, well, thanks. I didn't really expect this at all." He remarked, "So...is that it? Now is the meeting over?"

"No, didn't you hear what Lori said a few moments ago?" Lola stated, a little more curtly than intended.

Lincoln looked over at Lola confusedly, "Huh?"

"What our third youngest sibling is inferring to is that there's a second subject worth initiating discourse over." Lisa clarified only in manner she can.

"And what would that be?" Lincoln asked.

"Well...I guess for starters, we really want to know why you came back home in such a bad mood earlier." Lori said.

Lincoln shirked back slightly at that request. There was a good deal of anxiety over how he felt his sisters would react if he did explain everything.

"I don't know if I want to say." He said anxiously, "It's so stupid and you'll probably agree, too..."

"Aw, it can't be that bad, Lincoln. But no matter what it is, we really do want to help out. There are fewer things we can't stand seeing more than our only brother being upset." Luan told him reassuringly.

"Yeah, so won't you tell us, Linky?" Leni pleaded.

"Please, please, please?" Lana and Lola begged simultaneously.

As a result of the mounting pressure of pleas, Lincoln felt like he had no other choice. He took a moment to trying readying himself and then began to explain what happened.

"I was at the convention over at the mall..." He began.

He took a deep breath and continued on.

"The first few minutes or so, nothing really happened. But as time went on, I started hearing all these insulting comments about my costume from other attendees, telling me how cheaply made mine looked and how embarrassing it was that I used a towel as cape and had my underwear on the outside. Such insults came from little kids, kids around my age, teenagers and even quite a few adults, so no one held back. There was one woman in particular who at first admonished her son after he made fun of me, and he looked around seven years old, but as they passed me by, I distinctly heard her agree with him and referred to me a pathetic little dork. Some other guy said I looked like Ace Savvy as if he went into poverty. I tried to ignore everything, but it got to the point that I couldn't take it anymore, so I eventually left."

Lincoln lowered his head down for a few seconds and sighed. When he looked back up, he saw all his sisters having saddened expressions on their faces, which was something he didn't quite expect.

"Huh? What's going on?" Lincoln wondered.

"What do mean what's going on?" Lynn asked back.

"You're not making fun of me? Laughing at me? Mocking me? Telling me I'm some sort of big baby who needs to suck it up?" He questioned.

His sisters gasped and looked appalled at such questioning.

"What?!" Lola exclaimed in aghast, "That's how you expected us to react? No way, Linky!"

"Yeah, I mean, really, dude?" Luna added, seemingly at a loss, "That sounds way harsh the things you went through and you honestly think we'd find that worth making fun of?"

"…You guys didn't seem to have a problem doing that to me earlier in the day."

And just like that, it was as if a ton of bricks collapsed right onto each of the girls. However, they had little time to react as Lincoln continued to speak.

"But that's beside the point, because I haven't told you the worst thing..."

Again, he sighed as he worked up the courage to finish recounting everything that happened.

"After I left the mall, I ran over to a little wooded area close by and...well, I just cried. There, I admit it, I cried. The guy who brags about his thick skin couldn't take a bunch of insults from strangers, so he ran off and cried all by his lonesome. It probably didn't help that remembering what you guys said earlier didn't exactly make me feel better, too..."

The sisters were crestfallen upon their brother explaining that unfortunate instance. If they didn't have an answer as to what's been upsetting him since his early return home, it appeared that this sealed it.

"Well, I guess we now know that what we said earlier today did in fact affect you more than you were letting on." Luan said gloomily.

"What? No, it didn't." Lincoln denied.

"But you just admitted now that you didn't feel much better remembering what we said while you were crying." Lucy pointed out, "You can't really say otherwise if that's the case."

"Maybe I just so happened to think about those words while crying. Have you thought about that?" Lincoln fired back, petulance rising in his voice.

"Linc, it's all right." Luna said to him calmly, "You don't have to wig out or anything. If we did make you upset, you can say so."

"But you didn't! I'm telling you, you didn't!" Lincoln shouted, now getting straight up irritated.

"Your defensive posture and manner of enunciation is clearly suggesting the opposite, elder brother." Lisa countered.

"No! Can't you guys take a hint?" Lincoln tried saying more steadily.

No matter what he said, it was getting harder for Lincoln to keep things together. His denials of his sisters' teasing having anything to do with his dispirited disposition during his arrival home didn't appear to have in the way of effect. He blinked his eyes shut and slammed his fist onto the ground.

"No, dang it, I'm not doing this again, not in front of you guys!" He said in a strained voice.

A shaky whimper came from the now trembling boy, making his sisters get ever more concerned about his deteriorating state. Most of them wanted to say or do something to cheer him up, but an odd, unexpected request from the eldest among them put a halt to such action.

"Guys, would you mind giving me and Lincoln a few moments of privacy?" Lori asked of everyone else.

Though confused by her request, the rest of the sisters gave in and started walking out of the room, minus Lily, who was picked up and carried out by Leni. They closed the door behind them and allowed their oldest sister and only brother to have their time alone.

"Lori, what's going on?" Lincoln asked her.

"Well, you looked like you were about to cry again and sounded like you were uncomfortable doing so in front of all of us, so..." Lori answered, starting to trail off at the end, "But aside from that, there is something else I also want to say."

Sighing, she placed her hands on Lincoln's shoulders and looked into his eyes.

"Since you all but admitted that the teasing from today did affect you in some small way, despite your denials to the contrary, I want to tell you this personally. In a sense, I feel that this is largely my fault more than anything."

Lincoln had a puzzled look on his face, "Wait, how so?"

"Because if you ask me, whether it be what happened today or in previous cases, sometimes it feels like the only reason teasing can get a little out of hand is because I either allow it to happen or worse yet, I'm the one who starts it. As the oldest sibling, I should be the one leading by example by quashing things before they get out of control." Lori explained, a tone of sincerity permeating every word spoken.

Lincoln primed himself to respond, but wouldn't have the chance in doing so as a result of Lori suddenly pulling him right over to her lap and fondly embracing him.

"But for now, that's not important. No matter what reservations you might have, I know you feel like crying and letting things out, and I'll be literally right here for you as that occurs." She said softly.

At first, Lincoln struggled and tried as he might to hold back in the tears that were starting to form in the corners of eyes. However, the comforting warmth of being within his oldest sister's arms would do little in continuing his hesitance and soon enough, his face laid against her clavicle and he began quietly letting those tears flow on out.

"This is so dumb..." Lincoln choked out, "_I'm_ so dumb for acting like this...over some stupid teasing from some stupid kids of all things! What's the deal with that?!"

"Don't say that kind of stuff, Lincoln..." Lori whispered, "You don't need to feel ashamed for crying, regardless of the reason for doing so. Just let everything out, okay?"

The assurances coming from her did seem to help Lincoln in further releasing himself emotionally as he now returned the embrace that his sister had him in. His cries slowly started getting more persistent and in turn, Lori held him a little bit tighter and soothingly rubbed his back.

As all this was going, the rest of their sisters had been listening in the whole time from the other side of the door. They had heard everything, from Lori's attempt in taking most of the blame for the day's teasing to Lincoln's crying, the latter of which made for a heartrending experience. Each of them wished they could be back inside and wanted to do anything in comforting him, but reluctantly remained patient in respecting Lori's request for privacy between her and Lincoln.

Out of the present group, Leni appeared to be the one taking things the hardest. She was the one who first theorized the teasing that she and her sisters took part in could have been one of, if not _the_ primary reason for Lincoln's moody behavior earlier. Thinking about that, plus listening to the saddening sounds of her little brother gently crying, now she had her own set of tears bubbling up in her eyes.

Handing Lily over to Luna, Leni turned away from her sisters, propped her arm against the door frame of the bathroom and buried her face into her forearm as she started openly weeping herself.

"Leni, what's wrong?" Luan asked worriedly, putting a hand on her older sister's back.

"T-this is all o-our fault..." Leni barely got out through her throaty sobbing, "I knew it! It w-w-was what w-we said that made him s-s-sad! W-why did we have t-t-to be so mean to Linky? _Why?!_"

Another hand off of Lily occurred, this time from Luna to Lynn, allowing the third oldest sibling to try her hand in consoling her weeping sister.

"Hey, Leni..." Luna softly addressed.

The rocker gently made the fashionista turn over to her direction.

"Listen, I feel bad too now thinking the excess ribbing of our bro played some role in getting him in the mood he was before and is currently in. But you heard him moments ago saying how it was some little brats and dopes at the convention that pushed him over the edge. That is who's really to blame here." Luna told her older sister.

Leni sniffled, "But...but..."

"But nothing, Leni." Luan interrupted gently, "We may have done wrong in part, but beating ourselves up isn't going to help. When we're allowed to come back inside, we'll do our best in telling Lincoln that we're sorry, but also mention that we truly don't mean any harm, unlike those idiots who ripped into him at the convention."

Even with everything said, Leni still didn't feel completely relieved of the guilt that wracked her. Perhaps sensing this, Luna pulled her into a hug, with Luan also doing the same from behind. Following Luna and Luan's lead, the rest of their sisters joined in to form a group hug, while Lynn simply melded into the group given that she was busy with Lily in her arms.

"Okay, you can come back in now." They heard moments later coming from Lori.

Getting the affirmation from their oldest sister, everyone filed back inside and took their seats once more. Upon their return, they each glanced at Lincoln and saw his eyes and cheeks dampened from crying, something they all hated to see.

Barely being able to contain herself, Leni got down to her knees and tightly hugged her brother.

"Lincoln, I'm so sorry that we made fun of you!" She expressed regretfully, still also sniffling from crying seconds earlier, "Like, we shouldn't be doing that!"

Lincoln attempted to respond, but was cut off when he now felt Lana and Lola join in and squeeze him as tightly as Leni was, both also tearing up on their ends, too.

"We'll never tease you again!" Lana said tearfully.

"Anything to make you feel better, Linky!" Lola added just as pensively.

"Guys...I...can't...breathe..." Lincoln struggled saying as he felt like he was suffocating in this trifecta of overly apologetic sister hugging.

In response to their brother being constricted too much, Luna and Luan assisted in pulling Leni back while Lynn encouraged the twins to disengage.

"What are you doing? I'm apologizing to Lincoln like you said we were going to!" Leni said huffily.

"Dude, you were squeezin' the air outta him!" Luna admonished her older sister.

"Yeah, I know firsthand that your hugs make me believe you're as strong as an ox and that you need to let him get some _ox-ygen_ back into his system." Luan said, not resisting in that pun, even through the groans being emitted.

The two younger brunettes guided Leni back to where she'd originally been seated on Lori's bed. She took another look at Lincoln and whimpered sadly.

"Sorry about that, Linky…" She said in relation to her suffocating embrace.

"Us, too..." Lana and Lola both apologized as well for their part.

"It's all right, guys..." Lincoln responded, following time in catching his breath, "I should be the one apologizing here for Lori having to make you all leave briefly because of me crying."

"It's no trouble, Linc. She thought you needed some space, right?" Lynn said, looking over to her oldest sister for conformation.

"That was kind of the idea, yeah." Lori affirmed with a nod.

Lincoln sighed and continued to suggest regret for such action, "Still, I feel dumb that it even happened at all. Guess it shows how frail my thick skin can be on occasion because I feared you'd make fun of me for crying, as bad as that may sound."

He lowered his head in shame again, unable to see the saddened faces that his sisters were expressing.

"Lincoln Loud, look me in the eyes right now."

Those tough, yet tenderhearted words coming from the eldest sister made Lincoln do just that, if for any other reason because her fingers being put under his chin and lifting his head up encouraged him further.

"We would never..._ever_ make fun of you for crying, no matter what the reason is, up to and including if it's literally as a result of something we've done to you." Lori firmly said.

Such words spoken were met with a cascade of similarly assuring statements from each of the sisters directed to Lincoln.

"Furthermore, I can speak for everyone that it's wonderful you have a thick skin, because it's a very valuable trait to have in life, isn't that right, girls?" Lori continued, asking for further input.

"I agree, and I'll use myself as an example. I would never do stand-up comedy, perform at birthday parties or even have my comedy channel if I wasn't prepared to take a few heckles and jeers." Luan said.

"I can relate, too, bro." Luna chimed in, "Not everyone's gonna find my jams worth jiving and moshing to and I'm always ready to accept that."

"And do you think for a second I'd face any panel of judges at my pageants if I was afraid to hear anything negative from them?" Lola opined, "I mean, unless they're really off base or seriously biased in favor of somebody like that snotty little Lindsey Sweetwater or something, then nothing's off limits!"

"Easy there, princess. You're not exactly helping your case there." Lynn said as she placed a hand on Lola's head and chuckled, "On a related note, yeah, no way would I take part in any of my sports teams should I hate to hear booing of any sort, be it because were getting it from a crowd on the road if we're routing their side or from home field in the rare cases I screw up."

"All astute and ennobling insights, sisters." Lisa said with nod and an adjustment of her glasses, "Also, if I may, I sense there's another point aside from giving our singular male sibling confidence boosting that our eldest sister is driving home. Am I reading things correctly, Lori?"

"That you are, Lisa." Lori answered her high IQ younger sister with a smile, then returning her sight over to her brother, "What I was planning to say next, or really right now, is that it's one thing to have a thick skin, which again is great, Lincoln. But it's another to shut yourself off and resist any urge to cry or express any similar emotions if you feel like it and once again, there's no shame in doing so, including in front of us, that I can always guarantee you, little brother."

Once more, all the sisters gave their only brother an assortment of overlapping statements in the affirmative to the sentiment expressed by Lori.

For Lincoln's end of things, he had mixed feelings toward everything he heard thus far. On the one hand, the fact that a number of his sisters had their own thick skins for their respective hobbies and endeavors did serve as a validation for his own. Yet at the same time, it kind of also made his own humiliating experience at the convention seem worse by comparison. Luan can take hecklers to her brand of comedy, Luna is capable of brushing aside those who'll rag on her music, Lola can withstand criticism during pageants...well, kind of, and Lynn is able to tune out booing at her various sporting events, but Lincoln can't take a bunch of strangers saying nasty things about his Ace Savvy costume?

Unfortunately, the contrast was enough to outweigh most of the positive empowerment his sisters gave him and ultimately, Lincoln's eyes welled up in tears for another instance, although this time around, he didn't feel as guilty about doing so in front of everyone.

Wanting to take her own turn in reassuring her little brother, Luna got down onto the floor and sat next to Lincoln to his left. She put an arm around him right as he was weeping quietly for the second time in the last few moments. He rolled his face over to his sister's shoulder, prompting her to bring him close into a hug, while at the same time Lori placed her hand on Lincoln's knee and patted it.

"Hey, it's okay, little bro. You're in the presence of good, caring company." Luna confidently said to him, smirking at the end.

The sight of Lincoln crying was something that didn't set well with anyone watching on, most notably Leni and the twins, as they were tearing up again all the same. Luckily for them, Luan was there for the former and the latter two had Lynn and Lucy doing the same for them.

After a few minutes had come and gone, Lincoln's gentle cries subsided and it gave a chance for Luna to tell him something very important.

"Lincoln, you know that we love you, right?" She said.

For a moment, Lincoln didn't respond, which wasn't something Luna nor anyone else found comforting at first.

"Right?" Luna reiterated more tentatively.

Her brother remained silent, but after a pair of sniffles, he looked up at her.

"Yeah..." Lincoln answered softly, "Why would you say that like I didn't know?"

"Well, it's not because nobody here thinks you ever doubted it, but because it's always worth reminding you that's the truth and that'll never change, no matter what." Luna responded, complimenting those words with a brief tightening of her hug and then letting him go.

"Yeah, that is something we can all agree on." Luan agreed while nodding, "Also, there's something else you should really understand, Lincoln..."

The comedienne got on down to the floor and sat next to Lincoln's right side.

"With regards to what happened earlier today, we didn't intend to tease you because we think less of you or to make you feel bad, far from it, wouldn't you say, guys?" She said, asking for further confirmation from her sisters.

Various statements, from simple "nos" and "no ways" to an "absolutely not" and a "not in the slightest", seemed to affirm such feelings.

"Now, compare that to what those bozos at that convention said to you." Luan continued, "From how you described things, they did it with the full intention of causing actual harm to you on the inside and I can assure you that me and no one else in this room ever wants you to feel like that. But if you ever did, such as with today, then we're really sorry."

With a kind smile on her face, Luan reached over and hugged Lincoln for a brief moment. After that, he panned around the room and saw each of his sisters also smiling in his direction, likely further verifying what Luan had just explained.

Lincoln took a gratifying breath of air, "Thanks, you guys. Hearing all of this does mean a lot to me. With that being said, can I say something now?"

"Go right ahead, bro." Luna said, as she and Luan backed away a bit to give him some room, though Lori still sat right in front of him.

"The _floor_ is all yours!" Luan quipped, brushing her hand along the bedroom carpet.

While the general reaction to that pun from Luan ranged from indifference to mild groaning, it did actually garner a mild chuckle from Lincoln, which meant a lot to her, mainly because it showed that he seemed to be gradually getting into a better mood.

"So I was going to say this right as Leni and the twins gripped me in that hug of theirs, so here goes nothing..."

Lincoln took a few seconds to prepare himself, then he resumed speaking.

"Guys...I don't actually dislike it when you poke fun at me and I never suggested or implied that I wanted it to stop. All those times I said I can take it, I mean it. Heck, I'd never openly brag about having a thick skin if I couldn't take it...well, aside from everyone at the convention, that is, which still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me."

"Well, it's like Luan just said, in that they're a bunch of strangers whose intentions were malicious in nature and you perhaps weren't prepared for that, unlike with us where you know now we're coming from a more…let's say, a well meaning place." Lori said with a nod and a wink.

"Yeah, true that. Oh, and what you said about not wanting the teasing to stop? I can ensure that'll never be the case!" Lynn proclaimed, joining over to Lincoln for a second and lightly jabbing his shoulder, then she rubbed it and had a more serious look on her face, "But honestly, if anyone mocked you like those jerks did today during that convention, they'd have to answer to ol' LJ here, 'cause no one casually puts down our only brother without consequence."

"That's right!" Lana shouted.

"No one!" Lola added in kind.

"Anyone who ever messes with my Linky should wish that they've never been born!"

Everyone paused and looked in shock over the fact that such an abrasive statement came from Leni of all people. She looked right back at her siblings confusedly.

"What? I can be mean too if I want to be, especially if somebody's hurting Lincoln!" Leni said defensively.

"Easy there, we get it, brah." Luna said while placing her hands on the shoulders of her unexpectedly agitated sister.

"Just don't turn into a pot of stew and _boil _over, okay?" Luan jokingly added.

Lincoln grinned, then he resumed speaking, "So again, I don't worry about pulling back on the teasing, because I can withstand it. And sure, while I shouldn't have came off so defensive earlier, I was telling the truth about how recalling what was said to me by you guys didn't contribute to me crying after I left the convention. Yes, I said remembering those words didn't make me feel _better_, but at the same time they didn't make me feel _worse_, either. Another thing to think about is that if you really were the cause of my bad mood, wouldn't I've come home much later as opposed to sooner, since I wouldn't want to deal with any of you for a while? Anyway, to make a long story short, you had next to nothing to do with how I felt when I came back home and honestly, I hate to see all of you feel like you did."

With their brother's explanation wrapped up, the sisters each looked at one another with smiles on their faces, some even breathing sighs of relief. It appeared their concerns over any contributions to their brother's mood from before were misplaced and they were thankful for that being the case.

"However..."

Suddenly, their attention was right back at him.

"Speaking of honesty, I won't sit here and lie wondering what it is about Ace Savvy and comic books in general that makes you really give it to me. That kind of stuff means a lot to me and...I don't want to say it _hurts_ a lot, but I would like to know what you have against it or for me taking part in them."

And just like that, relief switched to a brief sensation of grief for the girls, which wasn't going to get that much better with what came out of Lincoln's mouth next.

"But I shouldn't make such a bit deal about it, I suppose, since I am used to living in a house were my sisters all hate the things I like."

His sisters all looked dumbfounded over such an assumption.

"What?!" Lynn said reeling back.

"Gasp." Lucy uttered in a tone just above monotone.

"Are you serious?" Luan asked, sounding genuinely hurt.

"Pardon my direct forthrightness, but has your cerebral cortex suffered an absence of being?" Lisa inquired, but realized that sounded too typically complex of her, so she opted to simplify things, "Or as it's known on the street, have you lost your mind?"

Lincoln started shifting around uncomfortably, "Well...I-I...I thought that's how you really felt, that's all."

He groaned lightly, realizing he may have cast a serious misjudgment upon his sisters.

"Now hold on a second, Lincoln." Lori said, putting both hands on his shoulders again, "I can bet you no one here actually _hates_ the stuff you like, including your comics."

"You don't?" He wondered.

"No, not in the slightest, dude!" Luna expressed adamantly, "I think the issue is that we simply don't get their appeal, that's all. It's nothing against them and certainly not you."

"And maybe not understanding them entirely does seem to make it easier for us to make fun of them, too." Lynn added with a hint of regret.

"Yeah, and you see, that was something else Lucy brought to our attention earlier in the day and that we wanted to discuss with you, Lincoln. It does seem like we make it too much of a habit in making fun of your comics and such, and as Lucy told us, there isn't much to gain when we do broadly speaking." Lori said to him, also sounding remorseful.

"Yes, and in addendum to that, we'll also concede that a boundary was crossed when this sister collective prematurely, and disrespectfully to be perfectly candid, went out of their way to make a fete out of your temporary termination of attending this convening of uncouth comic fanatics, which I have no trouble now labeling them as such for the uncalled for error of discourteously singling you out, older brother." Lisa eloquently stated while smiling in Lincoln's direction.

"So I think to wrap things up, it's like you said, Lincoln, we're never gonna stop teasing or poking fun at one another, because that's common with most any siblings." Luan said with a grin, then got a more serious expression on her face as she looked at all her sisters, "But I guess if there is one thing we could stand to tone down, it's attacking or insulting someone's hobbies and interests, and that should go for all of us, not just only for the things Lincoln likes."

"True, I think we can work on that." Lori agreed before looking back at Lincoln, "And finally there's one other thing I'd like to say to you, Lincoln, which is that even though we made fun of your costume, we should all at the very least respect the fact that you made it all by yourself. For most of us, we'd probably literally be lazy enough to just buy our own costumes for anything remotely similar with any of our interests as opposed to making it from scratch."

The room filled with chuckles among most of the sisters, but Lincoln looked a little more hesitant in joining in.

"Well, thanks, I guess, but I do think it was kind of poorly put together the more I think about it." He said, following up with a little sigh.

Upon saying that, Lincoln scanned around the room until he saw Leni, who hadn't joined in the laughter. Instead, she appeared to have a look of contemplation on her face, something that wasn't going unnoticed from everyone else.

"Is something up, Leni?" Luna asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Leni said, shaking her head to regain herself like she had been in a trance.

The fashionista turned her attention to Lincoln intent on sharing something with him.

"Hey, Lincoln, I have an idea." She began with, "Maybe next time when another one of those confection thingies comes along..."

"_Convention,_ Leni..." Lori corrected her sister.

"Oh, right, right, right, _convention_." Leni said while enthusiastically nodding, then she resumed speaking to Lincoln, "As I was saying, when another of those comes along, why don't I help you make a new costume for you?"

Lincoln thought about that for a moment, then he gave his sister a hopeful grin, "Really, you would do that, Leni?"

"Of course! I'd def totes do it for you!" Leni exuberantly said, "I'll just need to get some measurements from you and maybe get a look at that other costume of yours to get an idea on what to work with."

Lincoln's face creased somewhat, "Well, that will be a problem since I already threw away that very costume in the trash."

"I can get out of there if you like, Lincoln!" Lana excitedly volunteered to do.

"Of course you would..." Lola said sarcastically.

"I appreciate the thought, Lana, but you don't have to do that." Lincoln told his younger sister, then returned his attention to Leni, "But anyway, I'd still like to take you up on that offer, Leni, and what I could do instead is simply show you some pictures from a comic or two of Ace Savvy that you can look at and see what you are able to do from there."

"Sure, whatever works!" Leni said with a big smile.

Lincoln smiled back at Leni, and much to her delight, he went up to her and gave her a hug, which she was more than happy to give back. It was a sight so adorable that one by one, the rest of the sisters joined in to form one big signature group hug of theirs.

"Thanks so much, you guys." Lincoln said gratefully once the hug broke off, "I wasn't so sure at first, but I'm so glad we got to talk over everything."

"It was our pleasure, Lincoln." Lori said back equally appreciatively, "And if anything else, we ought to thank Lucy, since we would've literally not been able to have this conversation had she never brought these important topics up at first."

Lucy smiled lightly, "Anything for the brother who serves as my inspiration to help me stand up for myself."

For the third time, another "aw" was shared among everyone, causing another group hug to be shared.

"Thanks again, guys. I love you all so such." Lincoln said warmly.

"We love you, too, Lincoln." His sisters responded in kind.

And with that wrapped up a very touching day in of the lives of these eleven siblings. Sure, as had been said already, teasing was still going to be a part of their typical banter, but if Lincoln hadn't known it by now, he knew with absolute certainty that his sisters never harbored any ill intent and were willing to admit any wrongdoing should any lines be crossed in their minds. Plus, he also knew they would be the first to come to his defense if anyone was actively and maliciously going after him verbally and beyond. Finally, Lincoln can also rest easy that even with a thick skin, there was never anything wrong with lowering his defenses and having a good cry, especially knowing any of his sisters will gladly be there for him to release those emotions in their presence.

It's no wonder that no matter what happens, Lincoln will always love his sisters as much as they loved him dearly, too. One could almost say none of them wouldn't trade it for the world.

* * *

**And that's a wrap! As you see, I went with a balanced approached where teasing, ribbing and the like is established as something that can and will still occur, but can also modified at times should things ever come off as too disrespectful. I bet some would try (or have done) to make it so that no more teasing ever happens, but that's way too idealistic to be taken seriously. I also know that it's pretty much universally accepted that the sisters really do not at all think badly of Lincoln and truly do love him, as the final portion of this makes obvious, and no one should ever let any of the bad times that are scarce question that. **

**Okay, with that little speech done, let me know what you think per the usual and I'll be seeing you quite soon again!**


End file.
